1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of buoyant devices, and more particularly to buoys used to mark the boundaries of a water course in water sports.
2. Description of the Related Art
Buoyant markers are widely used to mark an area or areas of a body of water in order to define a course for water sports such as jet ski racing, water skiing, or other watercraft sports. Typically, the buoyant part of the marker is anchored in a fixed position by being coupled to a stationary object such as the ocean floor or the side of a pool. The fixing of the marker to the floor of an ocean or lake involves considerable time and expense in that a heavy anchor, such as a block of concrete, must be dropped into the water at a desired location, which is burdensome and time consuming. In a pool, the marker must be attached to either the floor or the side of the pool involving possible structural modifications to the pool itself.
The buoyant markers of the past proved problematic in that once the marker was placed in a body of water, it was either permanent or involved a great deal of effort to relocate. Usually, the relocation process required retrieving a sunken cement block from the ocean floor or the unfastening of a marker attached to a pool. This caused a difficult problem especially when the water conditions would shift and the markers could not be easily moved to compensate and adjust to the change in water conditions.
In attempts to solve such problems, buoyant water markers comprising a buoyant member coupled to a fixed length cord attached to a anchoring bag have been developed in the past. However, these buoyant water markers were not capable of being easily adjusted to compensate for variable water conditions such as different water depths and changing water currents. In different water depths that were substantially less than the fixed length of the cord, the slack in the cord was a potential hazard as it had the potential of interfering with water skiers or of being caught in the motors of the jet skis or other watercraft. In great water depths, a cord of considerable length was required to reach the floor leading to increased expense and unwieldy bulk. Further, the slack present in the cord when the water depth was less than the fixed cord length made the precise placement of the water marker difficult, as the amount of slack in the cord had to be taken into consideration to determine the correct placement of the weighted bag in order to keep the buoyant marker in the desired location.
Therefore, at present there exists a need for a buoyant water course marker that may be easily placed in a fixed position in a body of water which may be easily adjusted to meet variable water conditions, such as water depth and changing water currents, and may be reused repeatedly.